Trial reportQuality & safety in health care2004
Patients' experiences of an open access follow up arrangement in managing inflammatory bowel disease.
Trial report in Quality & safety in health care, 2004. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- Psychological interventions for treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Patient-initiated appointment systems for adults with chronic conditions in secondary care.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- A cluster randomised controlled trial of the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a 'whole systems' model of self-management support for the management of long- term conditions in primary care: trial protocol.Implementation science : IS · 2012Trial
- Models of outpatient care delivery in inflammatory bowel disease: a scoping review.Journal of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology · 2025Article
- Modelling self-management pathways for people with diabetes in primary care.BMC family practice · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundImproving access is a key policy issue in improving quality of care and extending patient choice and participation. People's experience of changing from fixed outpatient appointments to more flexible direct access arrangements for chronic disease has been underexplored.
objectivesTo examine patients' views on using an open system of access compared with fixed outpatient appointments as part of a guided self-management intervention for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
designEmbedded qualitative study undertaken alongside a randomised controlled trial. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken to obtain an in depth understanding of patients' experience of the change in access arrangements.
participantsA purposive sample (n = 30) was drawn from the intervention group (n = 700) according to a range of responses to the trial baseline and follow up quantitative measures.
results28 interviews were included in the analysis. Compared with the previous system of fixed appointments, preference for the new open access system was based on enhanced personal control in contacting services and the view that it fitted better with everyday routine management and the requirement for urgent medical contact when symptoms fail to respond to medication. Preference for retaining fixed appointments was based on a sense of security from gaining access which did not require the individual to initiate the request for medical help.
conclusionsOpen access may fit better with patients' self-management of their condition and everyday routines, roles and responsibilities. Ensuring that outpatient organisational arrangements and personnel are responsive to patient initiated requests for appointments is likely to impact on the acceptability of this type of access arrangement. Some people may continue to prefer the fixed appointment system which should be retained if patient choice is to be respected.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.